Recent technological advances have facilitated the decrease in size of portable electronic devices such as portable music and video players. Engineers have been able to reduce the size of circuitry and electronic components in electronic hardware such as the storage, memory and power supply units. However, the overall size of these electronic devices is still influenced by the size and shape of its mechanical components such as enclosures, casing and switch components. These mechanical components pose several constraints on the reduction of the size of the devices. For example, switches used for powering or operating these devices can be relatively bulky because several mechanical components may be needed to transfer mechanical force applied by a user to switching an electrical circuit.
Moreover, the size, shape and configuration of a switch commonly influence the orientation of a circuit board, thereby impacting the overall size of the electronic device. In one example, a side activated switch is mounted parallel to the plane of the circuit board. Typically, users can access these switches on an exterior surface of the electronic device. However, because the switch is side activated, the circuit board has to be placed perpendicular to the exterior surface through which the user is accessing the switch. In such an arrangement, the circuit board extends away from the surface and into the body of the device, thereby increasing the length of the device.
Accordingly, there is a need for smaller and more compact switching assemblies.